Tech contact for Qwest?

Sat Aug 21 10:10:39 UTC 1999

On Sat, 21 Aug 1999, Sam Thomas wrote:

> undervalue the clued geeks, but responsibility for the education of
> would-be clueful engineers is at least 90% student, at most 10% mentor.

That 10% mentor is more important than the percentages would suggest
because it acts as a catalyst for the other 90%. A good mentor will help
a less experienced engineer to make most effective use of their time in
learning the trade. It's not enough to just be available to answer
questions.

> become increasingly patient with the former, and increasingly intolerant
> of the latter.

You just need to adjust your style to the individual. Your job should be
to develop all of the up and coming engineers to the limits of their
ability. That could mean that you keep referring some engineers to
relevant books, manuals, RFCs and websites rather than answering their
question right away. Help them to develop the habit of looking up the info
rather than relying on other people. Basically, if you are going to put
some effort into another person, do it in a way that brings results.
If the other person is just wasting your time, fire them.

--
Michael Dillon                 -               E-mail: michael at memra.com
Check the website for my Internet World articles -  http://www.memra.com        